The Legacy of Liddell Hart: The Contrasting Responses of Michael Howard and André Beaufre

Abstract

This article establishes how the careers and strategic ideas of Sir Michael Howard and General André Beaufre have been influenced by their friendship with one of Britain’s most significant intellectuals of the twentieth century, Sir Basil Liddell Hart. The article traces the relationships between Howard, Beaufre and Hart while outlining the evolution of the ‘indirect approach’ in the nuclear age. It was through the work of these two friends of Liddell Hart who evolved and developed his ideas for a new age and a new strategic-political context.